Some conventionally known vehicle lighting units to be installed on a vehicle body can include those capable of emitting light rays with a plurality of colors from a single light emitting part so as to function as a plurality of types of lamp.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-248358 discloses this type of vehicle lighting unit, in which a first light source is allowed to face to one side end face of a light guiding plate while a second light source is allowed to face to the other side end face of the light guiding plate. Then, the turning ON and OFF of the first and second light sources are controlled to be switched over, so as to illuminate the front face of the light guiding plate with the light emitted from any or both of the first and second light sources. Thus, the front face can be colored with any of the colors of the first and/or second light source(s).
However, since the vehicle lighting unit described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-248358 utilized such a light guiding plate, which may adversely provide a wider emission area. Accordingly, it is difficult to obtain a thin line-shaped emission area. In order to achieve the formation of a line-shaped emission area, it is conceivable to use a light guiding bar-shaped member. However, it may be difficult to control the light distribution with the configuration using such a light guiding bar-shaped member, resulting in low light utilization efficiency.